• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

The Best Broadcaster in East Texas

6

600kogo

Who is the best commercial Broadcast Group in East Texas? We can all agree that Jerry Russell was the worst !But who is the best?

East Texas Radio Group? They have the herritage Longview based and Longview centered KYKX, as well as the amazing KKUS the Ranch with Tom Perryman, they also have a Spanish station that touches the entire Mexican community of East Texas, as well as the herritage KOOI?

Townsquare, with its Tyler centric KNUE, 96X Classic Rock, Mix KTYL, and its Black centric rhythmic oldies format?

Waller and the very active CHR on the Breeze, as well as its very popular Spanish format on Brisa?

Reynolds with The Blaze which reaches out to the Black community both old and young, and 99.3 with the local talk format?

Gleiser with his satellite automated stations on both AM and FM?

Hanzsen with his small hometown local AMs and FMs that reach and spotlight the small communities that the others just cant afford to focus on?

or last and certainly not least

Chalk Hill Media with one of the few true variety music stations in the country focusing on standards and big band music, as well as reaching out to the commnuties of Chalk Hill, Longview, and Kilgore?

So who gets your vote as the Best commercial radio broadcaster in the East Texas area??
 
I like what Chalk Hill Media is doing. A great selection of songs and they have guts doing what they are doing. They sound very good, so they get my vote.
 
You know what is really sad? That in all of the large markets in America radio is absolutely terrible. In East Texas radio is amazing!! With KZQX and KKUS leading the way with variety and quality! All of the stations in East Texas do a great job as opposed to the larger markets! The only thing missing in ETEX is an oldies station.
 
Funny this thread appeared.

Was in Tyler Saturday and listened to KOOI for awhile. Sad to see it has become a mere shell of its former glory days. I never once heard a jock. In the "good old days", they were live and local pretty much through all dayparts (including weekends).

Sad, to say the least.....

I don't agree with the assessment of ETX radio "do[ing] a great job as opposed to the larger markets!" I grew up and was on-air in Tyler and on-air in Marshall (KCUL alum under the legendary Tony Bridge). I now live in Dallas. After listening to KOOI and a few others this past weekend, I was saddened to think that, with few exceptions (Hanszen and CHM being two), ETX radio has crashed and burned as compared to DFW radio (or even itself ten years ago).

I really believe Waller selling out to Abcess.1 "dumbed down" radio. Yes, Waller is doing rather nicely (I hear) with the Breeze/Brisa combo. Yes, KKUS seems to be doing well. But KKUS is, to me, the only one of the former Waller portfolio doing well. The others, well.......

I will say this: Townsquare has brought a phoenix out of the ashes with KNUE. So glad to see my friend and former PD Amy Austin back at the helm. :)

Jerry Hanszen deserves props for keeping "hometown radio" alive and well in Carthage, Marshall and Henderson. Said it before...he's a true credit to the industry and profession.

Chuck Conrad is another who deserves some props. He's done well with QX-FM. Another "hometown radio" success story there, too.

Think I'm done....for now. Asbestos suit is now in place.
 
Concerning KOOI I dont know that is not my music demo, but for ETRG they do a good job with Spanish music on KOYE/KCUL-FM, and they do a good job with KYKX and KKUS. The problem for "Soft Rock" stations around the country is that they are in transition, and trying to stay relevant (just as beautiful music did in the 1980's). If they switch to Hot AC then they give up the audience completely, if they go with what they used to play its just about an oldies station, and most of the CHR that they could have played back in the 90s they cant now and be "Soft". Programming a soft AC station these days is difficult at best. In the big markets I have been in the Soft ACs are in transition and have lost their core audience (of course now their core audience is 55+ female). Most have switched to Hot AC. But again I have worked in Houston and several other markets and the variety is horrible!!! Unless you like rap, chr, talk, or sports you are out of luck! At least in Etex you have:

Country Top 40 (one in Tyler and one in Longview=variety)
Classic Country
Spanish (2 stations with different varieties of Spanish)
Soft AC
Hot AC/Mix
Urban
Urban Oldies
Standards
Classic Rock
Talk (AM and FM)
Sports Talk
Gospel
Christian Rock
Christian talk
Oldies (sort of with the weak signal of KWRW)
NPR

So what is missing if you thing ETEX radio is so bad?? Polka??? Beautiful Music? Radio Pacifica?
 
I've been silent abou this so far, but don't forget if you live in Kilgore, Longview or Lake Cherokee, you can also enjoy Classical and Jazz on KXAL-LP. It's what happened when I moved KZQX to the commercial 100.3 frequency. It's a format that is missing in many major markets, but it does have a following.
 
Umm - there is not a classic rock station in East Texas.
 
600kogo said:
Concerning KOOI I dont know that is not my music demo, but for ETRG they do a good job with Spanish music on KOYE/KCUL-FM, and they do a good job with KYKX and KKUS. The problem for "Soft Rock" stations around the country is that they are in transition, and trying to stay relevant (just as beautiful music did in the 1980's). If they switch to Hot AC then they give up the audience completely, if they go with what they used to play its just about an oldies station, and most of the CHR that they could have played back in the 90s they cant now and be "Soft". Programming a soft AC station these days is difficult at best. In the big markets I have been in the Soft ACs are in transition and have lost their core audience (of course now their core audience is 55+ female). Most have switched to Hot AC. But again I have worked in Houston and several other markets and the variety is horrible!!! Unless you like rap, chr, talk, or sports you are out of luck! At least in Etex you have:

Country Top 40 (one in Tyler and one in Longview=variety)
Classic Country
Spanish (2 stations with different varieties of Spanish)
Soft AC
Hot AC/Mix
Urban
Urban Oldies
Standards
Classic Rock
Talk (AM and FM)
Sports Talk
Gospel
Christian Rock
Christian talk
Oldies (sort of with the weak signal of KWRW)
NPR

So what is missing if you thing ETEX radio is so bad?? Polka??? Beautiful Music? Radio Pacifica?
Click to expand...


In terms of formats, ETX is certainly rich with them. No argument there...

However.....

The "live and local" feel is gone. KOOI isn't necessarily in my demo, but I know it has traditionally been a powerhouse in terms of on-air presentation and sound. To me, it sounded little different than KJKK running jockless. Sad......

If I wanted something like that, I'd fire up the music player on my iPhone.
 
old_skuel said:
Umm - there is not a classic rock station in East Texas.
Click to expand...

I agree, this area still needs a good classic hits or classic rock station with local DJ's. The only thing close is KTAL "98 Rocks" out of Shreveport but their signal doesn't cover all of East Texas.

I'd give it to Waller for The Breeze, a smart format flip at the right time when CHR moved from gangsta rap to very upbeat dance-pop. Their DJ staff was very amateurish and unpolished sounding at first, but have gotten better over the last year.

And to Chuck for his great job running KZQX!

And except for KTBB, East Texas AM radio is a still mess of poorly programed (hip-hop in Kilgore?) and poorly maintained stations (dead air, low modulation).
 
C414B said:
The "live and local" feel is gone. KOOI isn't necessarily in my demo, but I know it has traditionally been a powerhouse in terms of on-air presentation and sound. To me, it sounded little different than KJKK running jockless. Sad......

If I wanted something like that, I'd fire up the music player on my iPhone.
Click to expand...

I've been going to Dallas a lot recently and scan the dial while I'm there. I haven't found much "live and local' there either. With the exception of drive times it sounds pretty much like most stations are either voice tracked, or if there is a warm body sitting in front of the computer, they only read liner cards. One thing they all have in common is incredibly long stop-sets. Sometimes it's hard to figure out the format because they never get around to actually playing music before I've hit the "scan" button.

East Texas radio isn't perfect, but in many respects, I like it a lot better than most of what I hear in Dallas. Besides, listening to your iphone gets boring after a while.
 
After doing soft rock for over 5 years at various stations, all that we were allowed to do was read liners the same stale crappy liners over and over, so with that said a satellite feed or voice track would give the same warm feel! The only exception was when Dave Mooreland did mornings he was fantastic on mornings on KOOI and he was allowed to do more than read liners, and he worked those phones better than anyone in ETEX
 
And how in the world can anyone believe that John Tesh is what KOOI listeners want in the morning? Delilah at night I understand, can't listen to it, but carrying her show makes sense. Tesh is beyond me.
 
Personally I would put Tesh on in the afternoon drive to cool people down on the way home....Might stop the rednecks from beating their wives and kids LOL. I don't pretend to understand why they program what they do, but in this economy a station has to save money how ever they can. Tesh is a big name and that is probably why they are doing it.

Obviously they are making money on KOOI or there would be changes!! But from what I understand Ginger the GM is an amazing sales lady, and she is the secret of why they are making money no matter what!
 
Sorry, East Texas radio is atrocious. About half of the year I'm in the Tyler/Longview signal area, and most of what I hear is flat, stale, and boring. It's either satellite drones, or local bad radio cliches with East Texas accents. The smaller stations serve local areas and they do a decent job, but they're only going to appeal to that one particular area. The bigger stations just have no personality, or personalities for that matter.

I don't want to step on any toes here, but I just can't listen to it for very long. The innovation and quality control of 10-15 years ago is gone, and that's more the rule than the exception I hear almost everywhere I go.
 
I agree with fairchild. I absolutely hate listening to syndicated DJ shows and their total absence of anything resembling local identity. Local commercials and PSA's do NOT establish and maintain a station's identification with their local listeners.

I live in Lufkin, and I like old time classic country, so I get a full dose of it played by a local
DJ every afternoon on locally owned and locally managed KRBA AM.

Next to conglomeration, syndicated DJ shows are the worst thing that ever happened to radio.
 
I have news for you large market radio is far worse with its voice tracking and 100 song play lists. I have lived in both and East Texas is far better!! KKUS, KZQX, and the Breeze all do really good jobs and they are local! ETRG is brilliant for having Tom Perryman on the air he is amazing!
 
As one who worked the Tyler market long ago, I miss the "live" operations. Things change as time moves on, I know.

It was once an exciting radio city. But that was long ago.
 
While I miss the "good old days" of live and local announcers, it’s probably not coming back, at least on small stations. It isn't financially viable in many cases. I know there is no way I could afford to run my station with live talent. Perhaps if the economy improves enough it might be possible for drive times, but I'm not holding my breath on that.

On the other hand, my station has created jobs that didn't exist before, so I don't think the lack of live talent is that big a detriment for us. In fact, I experimented with having a very good ex-jock from Dallas do an air shift. He was extremely knowledgeable and sounded great on the air. Oddly, some of our listeners expressed the opinion that they'd prefer he wasn't there, getting in the way of their music. Go figure...
 
If radio is to survive as an entertainment medium it must change, but I am still convinced that done right any station (AM or FM) can make money if someone is willing to put the effort into them.

Maybe if the stations stop making the huge money to pay the loan payments then they will be back in the hands of individuals that will do something with them!
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom